Mellencamp has been to the White House, but only for musical rather than political events. He has ventured into politics but rarely, with an open "Take Back Our Country" letter ("Take it back from political agendas, corporate greed and overall manipulation") and such like. But Mellencamp mostly addresses current events in song, in which he has addressed the mortgage crisis ("Some now say this house/Can be taken without a shot"), race relations ("Oh oh Jena/Take your nooses down"), and law enforcement ("Well, I fight authority, authority always wins"). (He also demanded that John McCain stop using his songs during the 2008 Presidential race.)

The Democrats are in a bit of a fix as filing for the seat is supposed to end Friday. And, what the hell: As Sonny Bono, Al Franken, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Gopher, and dozens of others have shown, name recognition is half the battle.